Programs > Gap Year

Gap Year

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Students who attend Summit’s gap year program find themselves between two seasons of life. They seek community and direction as they leave home and enter adulthood. This community offers an experience that will take a student’s faith and propel them to engage the world with a strong biblical foundation.

Summit Semester A Gap Year Program

An extraordinary opportunity for growth and excellence

Participants will spend the first semester on an inward journey, removed from the chaos of the world and the familiarity of home, being challenged in theology and critical thinking, community life, and practical living. The transition to the second semester will mark a turn in the road. Students will leave the retreat, sequestered setting into an urban environment where they will put into practice the life and learning of the first three months now engaged with the world as ambassadors of Christ. The students will graduate to return home, having made a year-long journey of finding their way to a new perspective.

2023-2024 Dates
August 25 – March 29

Semester 1
Snow Wolf Lodge, Pagosa Springs Colorado
August 25 – November 18, 2023

Semester 2
Summit campus, Manitou Springs Colorado
January 5 – March 29, 2024

Summit Gap Year Application

Training Students to Worship with Their Head (Truth), Heart (Relationship), and Hands (Practical Living) 

Summit Semester A Gap Year Program

Truth: Students will learn from some of the nation’s top Christian scholars to help them understand how to think well and Christianly.

Summit Semester A Gap Year Program

Relationship: Summit staff will help nurture each student’s spiritual formation while forming genuine relationships with classmates.

Summit Semester A Gap Year Program

Practical Living: Students will learn what it looks like to form good habits and live like a Christian in their day-to-day lives.

Students study diverse subjects from top Christian scholars. Students have the option to receive college credits.

  • Biblical Foundations
  • History of Christian Thought
  • Christianity and Politics
  • English Literature
  • Philosophy and Ethics
  • Art, Theology, and The Church
  • Apologetics
  • Leadership
Summit Semester A Gap Year Program
Learn About Courses & Cost
Summit Semester A Gap Year Program

The Christian community at Summit’s gap year program nurtures character development and hones intellectual skills while helping students develop strong relationships. Students build friendships and a foundation from which to learn and serve.

Learn About Adventures
Summit Semester A Gap Year Program
Summit Semester A Gap Year Program
Summit Semester A Gap Year Program

Why is biblical worldview training important for students?
Don’t just take it from us.

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing how my relationship with God has grown significantly by carving out that time to be with Him. I was strongly convicted to make my schedule around God instead of making my schedule and finding time for Him later.
Elisabeth van der Knoop
Elisabeth van der KnoopSemester Student
The Semester community is rare in the rest of reality, but so is a lot of true community. My prayer is that more true community will come on this earth but, boy, am I excited for the one to come.
Charlie Curtis
Charlie CurtisSemester Student
The experience of mealtime at Summit has reframed my way of looking at ordinary things in life. It is a reminder to me that everything we do, down to eating and washing dishes, has the opportunity to be enjoyable and a way of glorifying God.
Mia Lasko
Mia LaskoSemester Student
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Meet Tripp Almon!

Tripp Almon joined Summit in 2018 and serves as the Director of Summit Gap Year. He relocated to the great state of Colorado with his wife, Megan, and their kids, Neely and Rogan, from the little town of Newnan, Georgia — just south of Atlanta. Tripp’s passion for educating students in the areas of Christian theology, worldview, and apologetics grew in large part from growing up in a Christian home and then struggling profoundly with the tidal wave of cultural ideas that engulfed him as he entered a secular university. Thankfully, his experience taught him that Christianity not only stands in the marketplace of ideas — it soars.
 
Before joining Summit, Tripp, a former elite gymnast, coached gymnastics for more than two decades and served as a pastor for 10 years. He and his family love the outdoors and adventure sports, particularly off-road motorcycling.  Tripp is also a rally car co-driver with Almon Brothers Racing Team — 2017 champions of the NASA Rally Atlantic Cup Series.
Tripp Almon
Summit Gap Year Application